December 3, 2001 Judge convicts Roanoke County man on child pornography. When police executed a search warrant at his apartment, they found six teenagers. A 42-year-old Roanoke County man was convicted Thursday in connection with a child pornography case that began when a New Hampshire detective found him through an Internet chat room. http://www.roanoke.com/roatimes/news/story122137.html - - - - - - - - College student refutes charges he is high-level hacker On Dec. 8, 1999, a network administrator for Qualcomm Inc. called the University of Wisconsin-Madison to report that he had traced a break-in of his company's computer system back to the school. Someone had obtained the highest level of access at Qualcomm, Scott Kennedy told school officials. The intruder had stolen user names and passwords and could sort through confidential company information. http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/tech/078319.htm - - - - - - - - Fugitive Suharto son trapped by text messages Indonesian police have admitted that they tracked text messages sent by the former President's son in order to finally end his year on the run. Indonesian police have said they finally tracked down the fugitive son of former President Suharto partly by tracing text or SMS messages sent from the flamboyant businessman's mobile phone. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2100247,00.html - - - - - - - - BadTrans Has AOL Written All Over It Besides carrying a potent password-stealing payload, the thousands of e-mails infected with the BadTrans.B worm that are received by Internet users every day have another thing in common. They all appear to originate from America Online. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/172629.html BadTrans surges past SirCam as most infectious virus http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/56/23149.html - - - - - - - - Code Red Is Dead on Worst Lists Code Red, despite or perhaps because it was the most-hyped worm of 2001, does not make an appearance in the "top 10 threat" lists recently compiled by two leading anti-viral protection vendors. Virus threat lists are intended to rank viruses according to their prevalence, but each anti-viral firm uses its own tallying methods to decide which malicious code is running rampant. http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,48773,00.html - - - - - - - - Microsoft, White House Mum On Security Advisor Post Neither the White House nor Microsoft Corp. would confirm rumors today that Microsoft Security Chief Howard Schmidt may be leaving his position to serve as a electronic security advisor in the Bush administration. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/172642.html - - - - - - - - Home Office pledges PS1.5m to help protect children online The Home Office is to spend PS1.5m on advertising campaigns in national newspapers and magazines to educate parents and help kids surf safely. The UK government has launched a PS1.5m advertising campaign to help educate parents about the dangers of the Internet. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2100226,00.html http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/172620.html - - - - - - - - Data protection prosecutions 'unlikely' Enforcement of the Data Protection Act is unlikely to be through prosecution, but the Information Commission will be seeking out firms that break the law. Firms breaching the Data Protection Act 1998 are unlikely to be prosecuted, said David Smith, assistant commissioner at the government's Information Commission, last week. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2100239,00.html - - - - - - - - Terrorism bill 'biggest threat to competition since RIP The UK ISP Association (ISPA) has raised several strong reservations about new laws introduced in the new Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Bill, created in response to the 11 September attacks and currently going through the Lords. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/23161.html - - - - - - - - Bills Would Boost Electronic Security Research Funding Led by the heads of the House Science Committee, a cadre of lawmakers on Tuesday plan to introduce a pair of bills that would substantially boost federal spending on information-technology (IT) and cyber-security research. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/172635.html - - - - - - - - Environmental groups protest information sharing bill. More than a dozen environmental groups recently have joined civil liberties and consumer protection groups in their long standing fight against legislation designed to spur the disclosure of cybersecurity information. http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/1201/120301td1.htm - - - - - - - - Visa offers new password security to Web shoppers Credit card company Visa U.S.A. on Monday announced a new online payment service that offers greater security to consumers who use their credit or debit cards to pay for products they purchase on the Internet. http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/tech/071472.htm http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,5100222,00.html http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1007-200-8052322.html http://www.msnbc.com/news/666737.asp - - - - - - - - Amazon, others balk at Microsoft Net standard Companies aren't rushing to adopt Microsoft's version of a new Internet standard designed to bolster consumer confidence in e-commerce. That's because implementing it won't be easy or cheap. And some lack faith in Microsoft's approach. "There is a large group of companies that want to see this fail," says Larry Ponemon, CEO of Privacy Council, a privacy consulting firm. http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2001/12/03/ms-net-standard.htm Microsoft privacy product may confuse consumers http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2001/12/03/ms-privacy.htm - - - - - - - - Standard, Plain-English Privacy Policies Wanted Only a tiny fraction of Web-wise consumers take the time to read the privacy policies of the Internet sites they frequent, according to two separate surveys released today. The studies show, however, that a majority of consumers would read the notices if they were made more succinct and easier to read. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/172628.html - - - - - - - - Intelligence revamp; technology challenge In the debate about restructuring U.S. intelligence agencies, many of the most heated disputes center on the role of technology. Some experts see technology as a vital remedy, while others say it can be a hazardous distraction. http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/1201/120301nj1.htm - - - - - - - - Study: Security fixes overwhelming IT managers The number of required security patches and updates to security products during the past 12 months has so overwhelmed IT managers at most companies that the process now places network security at greater risk, a new study concludes. http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/internet/12/03/security.fixes.idg/index.html - - - - - - - - Porn Directory Isn't Only Master Of 'Link-O-Rama' Domain Webmasters can't claim trademark-like rights to Internet domain names just because they operate popular sites, the publisher of an online pornography directory has been told by an international arbitrator. Mark Jenkins, an Orchard Park, N.Y., man who says his Link-O-Rama.com Web site and its massive database of porn-site links attracts some 300,000 visitors a day, had turned to the Geneva based World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in a bid to have an alleged competitor evicted from the hyphen-free domain LinkOrama.com. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/172636.html - - - - - - - - The Great MS Patch Nobody Uses A free, downloadable update that transforms Microsoft's Outlook into a significantly more secure e-mail application has languished virtually ignored on Microsoft's website for more than a year. Although the majority of recent viral attacks have come compliments of worms that don't rely only on e-mail to spread, the Outlook E-mail Security Update (OESU) can stop or greatly lessen the impact of most malicious code, such as BadTrans and SirCam, if only people would download and install it. http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,48756,00.html - - - - - - - - System lands role in biowar A consortium of high-tech companies, working with the Air Force surgeon general and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, are deploying an early warning system that will detect biological terrorism using the Internet to analyze data and spot deadly health threats. http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2001/1203/news-cdc-12-03-01.asp - - - - - - - - FBI 'Magic Lantern' reality check There's been a lot of noise since MSNBC's Bob Sullivan broke the story of a new viral snoop tool called 'Magic Lantern' which the FBI is purportedly developing to capture crypto passphrases so they can decrypt files on suspects' computers. Of course this all comes from an anonymous source whose level of access isn't even hinted at, so we remain unconvinced. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/23150.html - - - - - - - - Zi Hackademy raising eyebrows in Paris In a classroom off a small alley in eastern Paris, a fiery-haired teenager - who goes by the name of Clad Strife - lectures passionately about things such as the building of a Trojan horse. It's not the deceptive vehicle of Greek legend he's describing, however, but a software tool for sneaking into computer systems. http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/185485p-1798745c.html http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_1686000/1686450.stm - - - - - - - - Wireless hacking kits cheap to compile Experts last week showed how to put together a wireless hacking kit for less than PS1,200. Speaking at NetEvents, Jan Guldentops, director of Better Access Labs, demonstrated how a hacker could create the kit using "any old laptop, an antenna, GPS, power unit and software. And the entire thing fits in a briefcase." http://www.computing.vnunet.com/News/1127267 - - - - - - - - Debate on Privacy Goes Private The debate about new surveillance powers for law enforcement officials, Americans, in various ways, are asking a basic question: Are we willing to curtail personal freedom in exchange for greater national security? Now, a debate heating up in Washington puts a twist on the query: Are we willing to curtail access to information in exchange for cybersecurity? http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/03/technology/ebusiness/03NECO.html - - - - - - - - A Simple Explanation of Encryption Learn how encryption techniques have evolved over time and how you can encrypt your own email. It's always been difficult to keep secrets. It's even more difficult when necessity forces you to write those secrets down and move them around the Internet, whose open systems make it easy for eavesdroppers to glance at the information we send over the wires. http://www.techtv.com/callforhelp/projects/story/0,24330,2001052,00.html *********************************************************** Search the NewsBits.net Archive at: http://www.newsbits.net/search.html *********************************************************** The source material may be copyrighted and all rights are retained by the original author/publisher. The information is provided to you for non-profit research and educational purposes. Reproduction of this text is encouraged; however copies may not be sold, and NewsBits (www.newsbits.net) should be cited as the source of the information. Copyright 2000-2001, NewsBits.net, Campbell, CA.